Stupidity or courage: Taking on hospital bosses and the bamboo ceiling

Detailed summary

Survey shows the work pressure felt by many Asian-Australians.

Unafraid of hard work, Betty Ge combined nursing shifts with studying at the ANU Medical School and raising a young family.

But when Nurse Ge became Doctor Ge, she was genuinely shocked by the excessive amounts of unpaid and unrostered overtime that junior medical practitioners undertook in Canberra's hospitals.

It was about more than the money. Doctors working 16 hours or longer and then starting early the next day were a potential danger to themselves and to their patients.

"We have seen doctors who had car accidents and died after long shifts," Dr Ge said.

"And now we're seeing that we make mistakes when we're fatigued and then patient care can be endangered."

Chinese-born Dr Ge, who was chair of the Australian Medical Association's Council of Doctors of Training, became one of the leaders of a campaign which resulted in a class action lawsuit being launched in 2022.

"I guess it's stupidity or courage, however you want to call it," Dr Ge said.

Dr Ge was comforted by the fact she had a secure place in a general practice training program and her career was unlikely to be harmed by her advocacy. But some colleagues training for other medical specialties were scared of facing retaliation if they were identified as campaign leaders.

In 2024, Canberra Health Services and Calvary Health Care ACT settled the lawsuit for $31 million.

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Canberra Times. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.